A New Reality is Virtually Here

Can you guess what word has gained the most practical use in 2020? It’s not COVID or pandemic, although they get high marks for making the headlines more than any other word. The answer is Virtual.

In an attempt to acclimate to our new environmental restrictions, we have created a nearly all virtual world. In 2020, civilization has made popular everything from virtual appointments to virtual zoos. If we can think of it, we can put it on a computer screen. I’m not saying this is good or bad; it’s just the reality of our new virtual society.

From A to Z, it can all be done virtually. Ordering groceries, medication, buying an automobile, or whatever we can dream of, it’s virtually at our fingertips and in real time. While each year the use of online commerce has grown, there has never been such exponential growth as we have seen in 2020. The reality of a virus in the world has now pushed us into the virtual realm to seek commerce and friendship. A virtual connection is better than solitude.

We live, whether by necessity, or desire, or sheer boredom, in a virtual world. According to Hootsuite, YouTube has approximately two billion users a month and marketers know this. 5.5 billion (in the US) will be spent on YouTube advertising in 2020. Facebook, even with all of its regulatory troubles, has 1.7 billion daily users (Oberlo).

How about virtual conferencing companies? Zoom was founded in 2011 and launched in 2013. How many of us even knew about Zoom before the pandemic, and now we ask, “Do you “Zoom?” When a noun or company name becomes a verb, they have made it to the big time. 

Will we ever get back to our old reality? Perhaps, there is no going back. Maybe there is only a new reality, some type of hybrid of both the old reality and this new virtual world. As we have borne witness to, once something becomes widely accepted, like toll booths and income tax, it’s here to stay.

If we are to create a world where we can enjoy the virtual and also have the option to be face to face or walk in public safely, now we need to do whatever is necessary to accomplish this. Wear a mask, social distance, and stay home. Virtually everything as we knew it in the past is counting on us.

Links for this blog:

https://blog.hootsuite.com/youtube-stats-marketers/

https://www.oberlo.com/blog/facebook-statistics

https://www.businessofapps.com/data/zoom-statistics/